Archive for 2008

Dear readers, I'm going to address a potentially sensitive topic today.  Christmas is almost upon us, and based on this year's calendar, this evening represents the lighting of the 3rd Hanukkah Candle (if my information is accurate).  Aside from that, there is no other major religious observation occuring among the world's major religions.  In regard [...]

With all of the carnage in the financial markets, combined with the non-stop reports of doom in the media, it takes something these days to maintain a balanced perspective.  Hence this blog entry.   For me, the past few months have certainly had their ups and downs, and my perspective has taken a beating from [...]

Earlier this week I was in Santiago, Chile, working with a client who had brought in his leadership team from all over South America.  The engagement lasted two days, and it was a great success, even though we conducted the work in Spanish, which was a challenge for me.  Although my conversational Spanish is strong, [...]

December 1st, already.  It truly is amazing how quickly a year can pass.  This is the time of year when many of us begin to look back, and look forward.  And, if it isn't, I recommend you take some time to do so.   Why? Good question.  The reason I do it is to review [...]

I'm dealing with a client situation right now that has taken on quite a life of its own. What I mean is that it's as if the project is a living, breathing beast that has overtaken the people involved in it and is spinning them around like twister spins houses effortlessly as it passes through [...]

Many of you know this familiar adage, and, many of us ignore it at our peril – especially in our hurry hurry world. Over the past week I have been engaged in a client situation where exactly this problem is at play.  The client has received a request from a department within their organization, and the [...]

This was an amazing week in the life of American politics, and in the life of democracy as a whole.  Whatever one's political views, it is difficult to describe the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America as anything but a sea change.  It is transformational – particularly in light [...]

My last entry opened the topic of how to respond purposefully (and not just from fear or survival instinct) to the current economic troubles.  This posting goes a little further down that path.  One of the most effective ways of maintaining a balanced perspective is being purposeful about what we focus our attention on.  With [...]

This blog entry is overdue, given the wild ride of the financial markets over the past few weeks, and the unbelievable amount of press associated with it.  It is obvious that fear has been the predominant emotion driving the behaviours of millions of people around the world during this period.  And unfortunately, because of modern [...]

Hi folks.  It's been over seven weeks since my last entry – ouch!  I guess the summer was just too much fun.  I just got back this evening from an engagement in the US with a multinational client of ours.  Over the course of the day, I was reminded again of an important principle we [...]